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Friday, June 27, 2014

Christchurch arrival

The Beatles arrived at Christchurch, New Zealand on June 27, 1964 to 5000 fans at the airport to greet their favorite singers.

One strange story is that one female fan flung herself on the hood of the car the Beatles were in and bounced off the car and hit the road. Because the car was moving very slowly, the girl did not get seriously hurt. She was taken inside of the hotel and she ended up sharing a cup of coffee with the Beatles!

Beatles arriving in Christchurch, NZ

The Beatles then arrived at Clarendon Hotel, where the fans were up to their regular tricks of hiding in laundry baskets to try to see the Beatles. The Beatles first came out on a balcony to wave to their fans. While they were there, some boys in the crowd threw eggs and tomatoes because they were jealous of the attention their girlfriends were giving to the Beatles. The eggs hit the hotel walls and lasted for about four minutes. Some of them hit Ringo's trousers. The Beatles rushed back inside where they cleaned up and relaxed a bit.

Later they appeared on a balcony that was 12 to 15 feet above the footpath and they were able to wave to their fans without getting hit by eggs.

Here is what one photographer (who took the photo of the Beatles leaving the plane) had to say about the Beatles

I was a 20 year old photographer working for the
Christchurch Press when the Beatles arrived in Christchurch. I was
assigned to photograph the guys at the airport, when they appeared on the
balcony of the Clarendon Hotel and at the show. During that early part of
the 1960s I had also photographed the royal tours by Queen Elizabeth and Prince
Phillip and the King and Queen of Thailand and to me the crowd reaction to the
Beatles visit generated just as much crowd enthusiasm, if not more, than the
other tours.

By the time that they arrived in Christchurch, their last
venue, excitement was at fever pitch and screaming fans, mainly girls, nearly
broke down the 2m high security fence at the airport.

Here is my photo of the Beatles leaving the plane. I
still have the original, a 16 x 20 inch framed photograph hanging in my office
and a mint condition program like Wayne's, safely tucked away.

When they came out onto the balcony of the Clarendon the
whole of Worcester Street from the Square to the river was full of fans.
I climbed out onto the same level fire escape to get a photo of the
Beatles in the foreground with the crowd and Cathedral in the background.

They were there for some time waving and clowning around
until some nutter started to throw eggs. The Beatles immediately went
back in through the french doors but as I climbed back through a window into
the same room I was hit on the back by an egg.

Ringo and one of the hotel staff helped wipe it off with tea
towels but my jacket was pretty much ruined.

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Welcome Beatle fans!

This blog is to highlight photos and stories of people who have met the Beatles in person. And while fan taken photos are my favorite, I also like to include vintage fan photos and other photos that show the Beatles meeting fans.

The idea behind this blog is to follow in the footsteps of the great Beatle fanzines of the 1970's & 1980's such as The Write Thing, The Harrison Alliance, With a Little Help from my Friends, Paperback Writer, etc etc. Photos and article from those publications and others are reproduced here to preserve the history of the fans who met one or more Beatle in person.

If you have ever met one of the Beatles and have a story or pictures to share, please contact me, Sara, at Starshyne9@yahoo.com.

I have never met the Beatles (besides in my dreams) but love fan photos. These photos are from my collection, which spans 17 years of online photo collecting and scanning books. I do not claim any copyright of these photos or stories. Some of them are sent to me and published with permission. Others are scanned from magazines, books and found in various places online. I do not watermark photos that I place on this blog because I do not own any of the photos. These photos are on this blog in an attempt to preserve the history of the Beatles. If you own the rights to a photo and wish to have it removed from this blog, please contact me.